bad gasket ??

my buddy has a achevia that has a white lithium grease type of substance on the dipstick is that from antifreeze leaking into the oil

roaddirt

02-24-2005, 11:50 AM

my buddy has a achevia that has a white lithium grease type of substance on the dipstick is that from antifreeze leaking into the oil

I recently noticed the same with my 1994 Achieva 2.3L
As much as could find about that, it is coolant.
The problem is ussualy bad Lower Intake Manifold gasket.
A mechanic told me "if it is QUAD engine, I would not like to mess with it. I tried once and finished calling a dealer".
I wonder how much it would be to have it replaced.

colinepp

03-10-2005, 02:45 PM

There is also a very likely chance that it is the headgasket as the Quads are known to blow them. Check the compression and post back. Also check if the exhaust looks whiteish.

Kage25

03-14-2005, 11:22 PM

you may chech for water in oil by taking the oil pluy lose just to the point the oil will not come out the water should be at the bottom of the pan and would be thin enough to come out around the oil plug threads.

95OldsHO

03-17-2005, 12:16 PM

I recently noticed the same with my 1994 Achieva 2.3L
As much as could find about that, it is coolant.
The problem is ussualy bad Lower Intake Manifold gasket.
A mechanic told me "if it is QUAD engine, I would not like to mess with it. I tried once and finished calling a dealer".
I wonder how much it would be to have it replaced.

There is no "lower intake manifold gasket" on a quad, the 3100 V6(and other 3X00 motors)that was also offered in the Achieva does have one, and it is known for going out from time to time. Having the lower intake manifold gasket go out on the V6 gives a similar symptom as the quad 4 head gasket failure, water/oil mixing. The quad 4 headgasket failure will be differant because it should run/idle rough, seriously lack power, and blow white smoke and use up coolant fast.. the V6 guys sometimes dont know till the coolant res. is empty or the crank bearings go out from watered down oil.

If your mechanic wont work on the GM 2.3/2.4 then it might be time to find a new mechanic, quads have their issues, but not anymore than any other motor, I think Lotus was the first to mass produce a dohc 4 like back in the late 60's/early 70's.. there are so many 4 cyl. dohc engines made today- the quad was introduced in ~1989 and it lead the way for today's 4 cyl. dohc motors,(without the 2.3 there would never have been the Twin Cam 2.4 that fills so many Cavalier/Alero/Achieva/Grand Am etc. engine bays)the quads 16 year old design pretty much became the premise for all dohc 4 cyl. motors, surely there have been better ones built, but even they have their own problems in most cases, and alot of it is due to the iron block and alum. head that so many companies put out, this is one weakness of the quad and is why so many have headgasket troubles.(aluminum and iron expand(with heat)at a rate that is 7 times differant, and the headgasket is in between them.)